About “21st Century Breakdown”

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told Q magazine May 2009: “That goes from a song about where I come from to what it’s like to be in this era, financially. It represents an underdog spirit.”

Armstrong speaking about it again in The Sun:

“It’s about the collateral damage with it but also the hope and optimism a lot of Americans have. It’s a really strange time. Exciting, because there’s the first African-American president, a smart man who wants to do a good job. A man who’s inheriting the biggest pile of s–t this country has ever seen since the Depression. People are losing their jobs yet have a smile on their face, so this record is about that and the start of another era.”

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